this site has pics of the Duchess of Kent's wedding, Princess Alexandra

Thanks Australian. This is actually Alexandra, the sister of the Duke of Kent. It is very hard to find photos of Katherine the Duchess. It really is a shame as she was a beautiful bride. I remember being at York Minister on that day. The fashions were unbelievible. I think the Duchess and Princess Margaret had the simolest dresses of all British Royal Brides of that time.

Excerpt taken from "Two Centuries of Royal Wedding" by Christopher Warwick.

"Princess Marina annonced her son's engagement on 8 March 1961 which was well received by the public at large. The couple were to be married precisely three months later on 8 June at York Minster. During the next few weeks, Princess Marina suggested her own principal wedding designer, John Cavanagh, for her future daughter-in-law's wedding dress.

Once the design had been chosen it was left to Cavanagh to have the material made. A reliable French company set about weaving 237 yards of shimmering white silk gauze enhanced by an attractive pearlized motif, Cavanagh concentrated on the question of concealing details of the design from the eyes and ears of the press at his elegant Mayfair Salon. From his staff of fitters and seamstresses he hanpicked a small team, set aside one workroom on the second floor, blacked out the windows and had the existing door reinforced with steel which was to remain locked at all times.

By the end of April, John Cavanagh had set to work on the bridal gown with its small stand-away collar, tight bodice and diaphanous skirt. Miss Worsely and Princess Marina were worried as to how the fabric would behave when the bride was required to kneel and stand unaided. The designer produced a stack of telephone directories roughly the height of the faldstool on which Katherine would have to kneel. She practiced the movements and all was well. There was another little hurdle, the train was found to drag itself on carpeted floor, and although the nave at York Minster wasn't covered, the sacrarium would be. It was there at the end of the service that the new Duchess of Kent would have to curtsey to the Queen. It was therefore impossible for Katherine to effect the movement gracefully as she wished. The designer again provided the solution, as the bride and bridegroom approached Her Majesty, the young Duchess should effect a half-turn in the Queen's direction, step back into the folds of her gown, thus releasing the tension on her train, and with head slightly bowed, perform her act of homage.

The bride was to have three wedding veils made of white tulle. One would be worn by Katherine's understudy during the wedding rehearsals, another would be worn by the bride at the ceremony itself and the third would be kept at Hovingham Hall as a standby to be worn for the official photographs if need be.

One the wedding day, shortly after two o'clock, the first procession of the day arrived. Lord Mountbatten with his daughters led Crown Princes Harald and Constantine, heirs to the throne of Norway and Greece, along the nave, together with Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark, Princess Irene of The Netherlands, Prince and Princess Alexander of Yugoslavia and Lord and Lady Harewood. A quarter of an hour later, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret arrived along with Mr. Anthony Armstrong-Jones, Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, Lady Patricia Ramsay, Princess Sophia of Greece and Don Juan Carlos of Spain. Ten minutes later, Princess Marina and her daughter Alexandra arrived followed by the Queen and Prince Philip.

Headed by Princess Anne there were eight bridesmaids and three page-boys. The girls, dressed in long white organdie "Kate Greenaway" dresses, carried posies of roses and wore rosebuds in their hair.

The bride's face was covered by an extra panel of veiling fastened by diamond pins tucked under her head-dress. This cloud-like addition to her full length veil was designed to be removed easily when the ceremony reached its conclusion. The Groom was resplendent in the ceremonial uniform of his regiment with the dark blue sash of the Grand Cross of the Victorian Order across his chest, waited his brother and best man, Prince Michael.

After the wedding, the Duke and his bride left the sacrarium for the choir of the minster where the marriage registers were signed.

They had their reception on the lawns of Hovingham Hall and later left York for the quite seclusion of the Queen Mother's estate, Birkhall, in Scotland, for the first part of their honeymoon."